The summer transfer window is that time of year when it’s a free-for-all – as players and managers of different clubs gaze at each other with lustful eyes, indulging in fantasies of greener grass in a new club’s jersey. Every club has a position where they need reinforcement, plugging a hole in the squad that could potentially transform them into title contenders.
Yet, sometimes, managers can’t help themselves – consider Arsene Wenger’s obsessive accumulation of dimunitive, injury-prone creative midfielders over the years when Arsenal needed steel in their lineup. The Frenchman seems to have cured himself of the disease, but there are plenty of his peers who have signed a player they don’t need this summer, thus ensuring that players with real quality will spend the season stuck on the bench.
Here are 5 clubs that have indulged in a luxury signing
1 Liverpool – Georginio Wijnaldum
That the announcement of a £25 million signing was greeted with bemusement by fans of a club is perhaps indicative of our times. Yet, the Liverpool fans had some justification for going ‘why?’ when the signing of Wijnaldum was announced. Sadio Mane had just been announced as an incoming attacking midfielder, and while Wijnaldum can also play the box-to-box role, Liverpool are chock full of those midfielders as well.
Putting aside Joe Allen who is on his way out of the club, Liverpool also have Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Emre Can and Lucas Leiva who can play in central midfield. Jurgen Klopp favours a high pressing style, which might give Wijnaldum the nod, but he is defensively suspect – a flaw that may see him benched for a majority of the season.
Even if Klopp decides to play the Dutchman in the attacking front three, that would require him to displace one of Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane. The former Newcastle man might perhaps find plenty of chances given their propensity to get injured, which might be Klopp’s reasoning.
2 Real Madrid – Alvaro Morata
It was revelatory that when Los Blancos made the announcement that they were exercising the buyback clause for Alvaro Morata, the media’s reaction was to speculate about which club Real Madrid would sell Morata to. While £30 million is chump-change for Real Madrid, Karim Benzema is firmly ensconsed in the central striker position, which means Morata is set for sporadic appearances from the bench – not a situation that will please the youngster.
The 23-year-old is at the stage of his career where he needs to appear regularly, although since Zinedine Zidane is reportedly an admirer of the youngster’s qualities, Morata might be fine in accepting a secondary role at the club. However, consider the game time Borja Mayoral garnered last season – a paltry 283 minutes in 6 appeareances over the course of the season.
Morata has effectively replaced Mayoral as 2nd choice central striker and with Benzema afforded a rest from international duties due to his exclusion from the French squad, Madrid’s 1st choice striker might not suffer any injuries due to fatigue – which could further reduce Morata’s chances to play. Morata could find himself in the strange situation of being Spain’s first-choice striker who is barely able to play for his club.
3 PSG – Grzegorz Krychowiak
Frankly, outside of replacing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, any signing Paris St. Germain would make could be construed as a luxury signing, since the French champions have top quality players in every position. In fact, probably the least of PSG’s worries would have been the defensive midfield position, since they have Marco Verratti, Thiago Motta and Adrien Rabiot – a perfect representation of past, present and future.
With Unai Emery coming in from Sevilla to replace Laurent Blanc, one could have expected a return for Kevin Gameiro, but the Europa League winning manager surprised quite a few by moving for Krychowiak. There is no doubting the Pole’s qualities, but displacing PSG’s settled three-man midfield of Matuidi, Verratti and Di Maria will perhaps prove a task too much.
Verratti’s injury will provide Krychowiak game time at the start of the season, but once he returns, Emery will truly have a headache on his hand.
4 Bayern Munich – Renato Sanches
For a player who is hailed the successor to Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal’s side, Renato Sanches might spend a surprising amount of time on the bench in the 2016/17 season. Bayern splashed out €35 million on the 18-year-old before Euro 2016, and given his perfomances for Portugal in the summer tournament, the Bavarians were shrewd in getting the business done early.
Sanches can play as an attacking midfielder or the box-to-box role, but since Bayern’s system under Pep Guardiola did not have a strict attacking midfielder, but rather a support striker in Thomas Muller, new manager Carlo Ancelotti might have to switch systems to fully harness Sanches’ skills.
The Italian has already proclaimed that he will not change Guardiola’s system much, which will mean that Sanches’ best chance of playing will be in the box-to-box role. A position that has Arturo Vidal, Thiago Alcantara and David Alaba in front of him, not to mention Xabi Alonso in the centre as well. A rather tough ask for a precocious teenager.
5 Barcelona – Lucas Digne & Andre Gomes
Barcelona’s stunning first-choice XI perhaps would make any new buy a luxury signing, although the fact that the Catalans have been in the market for attaking backup is no secret. However, when Barcelona brought Denis Suarez back to the club, it seemed as if their need for backup was met, coupled with Arda Turan also on the bench.
Despite this, Barcelona surprised many by parting with €35 million, and a further €20 million in addons for Andre Gomes, a player with stunning quality, but not enough to dispalce the likes of Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic. The Portuguese midfielder might come to regret his move, much like Arda Turan, given the superior fitness of Barcelona’s first team.
In a similar vein, Barcelona’s squad was crying out for defensive reinforcement, especially in the right-back role, with Dani Alves having left the club. Luis Enrique sprung a surprise by signing Lucas Digne, who shone for Roma on loan last season, but will surely struggle to displace Jordi Alba from the left-back slot.
Quite a step-down for someone who played almost every league game last season.
